Mind The Gap

America’s British population has taken to the web to voice its displeasure at news that U.S. candy giant Hershey has successfully blocked our much loved U.K.-produced chocolate from being exported to the land of the free.

Michael Gough, Famous for ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Batman,’ Dead at 94

Doctor Who alum Michael Gough, a veteran British character actor whose career spanned eight decades, has died at age 94, according to reports. The actor appeared as the villainous Celestial Toymaker on Doctor Who back in 1966, opposite William Hartnell‘s First Doctor. (In 1982, he appeared on Who as a different character, Hedin, opposite Peter Davison‘s Fifth Doctor).

Here’s a bit of Gough as The Celestial Toymaker (he starts around 2:04).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNd4Sijh-Bo

Although the Malaysian-born Gough’s film and TV career began in 1947, he may be best known for his part as Batman’s loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth in four films of the franchise, starting with Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. (Gough later appeared in Burton’s Sleepy Hollow and lent his voice to the director’s The Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland.)

Here’s Mr. Gough reprising his role as Alfred in a set of OnStar ads back in 2001:

Kevin Wicks

Kevin Wicks founded BBCAmerica.com's Anglophenia blog back in 2005 and has been translating British culture for an American audience ever since. While not British himself - he was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri - he once received inordinate hospitality in London for sharing the name of a dead but beloved EastEnders character. His Anglophilia stems from a high school love of Morrissey, whom he calls his "gateway drug" into British culture.

Latest Interviews

The Latest from Mind The Gap

America’s British population has taken to the web to voice its displeasure at news that U.S. candy giant Hershey has successfully blocked our much loved U.K.-produced chocolate from being exported to the land of the free.